[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 6, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1400-S1401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, on another economic issue, I want to talk 
for a minute about the good news coming out of my State of Ohio with 
regard to the tax reform legislation. In just the past few weeks, I 
have visited eight separate businesses across the State talking about 
this issue, asking them what has been the impact of the tax reform 
bill, what are they doing with their savings.
  There are three of these I want to talk about tonight, briefly. One 
is a small auto parts manufacturing business in Zanesville, OH. They 
have three auto parts stores. One is a multinational credit card 
processing company headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, and one is a 
premier medical center in Cleveland, OH. They are very different 
businesses in different sectors of our economy, but all are benefiting 
from the tax legislation.
  GKM is the small auto parts store in Zanesville. They are reinstating 
healthcare benefits to their employees directly as a result of this tax 
reform bill. Under the Affordable Care Act, the company's healthcare 
costs increased dramatically--like so many other businesses--by double 
digits every year. They had a 22-percent increase in their costs in 
2016, and the company went to its employees and said: We simply cannot 
afford to pay for this 22-percent increase on top of other double-digit 
increases. We don't know what to do. We are going to have to have you 
go out on your own and find healthcare, including in the exchanges.
  Now, with the money GKM Auto Parts is saving as the result of this 
tax reform, all of their full-time employees are once again able to get 
healthcare through the company, and they are very grateful, having 
talked to some of the employees who had to go out to the exchanges, 
while others chose to pay the penalty. They are really happy to have 
their healthcare back.
  These kinds of real, tangible benefits are exactly what we intended 
to accomplish in developing tax reform, but businesses small and large 
are benefiting from these pro-growth changes to the Tax Code.
  The second company I want to talk about is a big C corporation--
Worldpay, Inc. It is the largest credit card processing company in the 
world now by volume. It has about 2,000 employees in Ohio at their 
headquarters. I recently went to their headquarters to talk about what 
they were doing, and when I was there, they announced cash bonuses of 
$1,000 and up to $2,000 for all of their hourly employees, higher wages 
for their frontline positions, an increased 401(k) match, greater 
company investment in employee wellness and recognition programs, and 
significantly more charitable giving. As Worldpay's executive chair 
said, tax reform is ``ensuring Ohio companies like Worldpay can remain 
competitive and recruit the region's top talent.''
  They merged recently with a foreign company. Thank goodness they 
stayed in Ohio, but now they are rewarded for that because, although 
they were punished for being a U.S. company before, now with our Tax 
Code changes in place, they are actually benefiting from being an 
American company, where it is more beneficial to make the investment 
here rather than, in their case, in the United Kingdom.
  A more competitive business tax code, an international tax code that 
encourages investments in this country rather than overseas, and 
incentives like immediate expensing that is in the Tax Code now are 
helping to create jobs in my home State of Ohio. It is helping Worldpay 
continue to be an American company and to be strong. It also is helping 
foreign direct investment in my home State because companies that are 
not American companies but foreign companies invested in Ohio are more 
likely to increase that investment rather than an investment somewhere 
else in the world because of the tax reform legislation. Immediate 
expensing and lower tax rates, this all helps to create good American 
jobs.
  The most recent Federal jobs report shows strong job gains and the 
fastest wage growth since 2009. According to a recent National 
Federation of Independent Business survey, the NFIB, which represents a 
lot of small businesses in Ohio, 32 percent of their companies now say 
they are going to expand. By the way, that is the highest level in the 
survey's history, and it is the highest level of optimism also in their 
survey about the future among these small businesses. A lot of that is 
from the increased opportunity and the optimism that comes from this 
tax reform legislation.

  One website I saw here in Washington tells us that across the country 
more than 400 businesses have now announced bonuses, higher wages, 
increased benefits, or a combination of these things as the result of 
the tax reform law. Four hundred is impressive, but I have to tell you 
it is a lot more businesses than that. I have been to small business 
roundtable discussions and individual businesses over the past several 
weeks in Ohio and talked to over two dozen individual companies--none 
of whom are on the list of 400 because they are not big companies that 
made a big public announcement--but every single one of them are taking 
this tax reform and the benefits they are getting from that, and they 
are reinvesting it into their people, their

[[Page S1401]]

workers, their company's plant, equipment, technology, making their 
workers more productive. So 400 is impressive, but I know it is much 
larger than that. Thousands of businesses are taking advantage of this 
and therefore their employers are and therefore you are seeing this 
increased optimism.
  The final example I want to talk about is one that has to do with our 
communities. I recently visited the University Hospital Rainbow Center 
for Women and Children in Cleveland, OH--a really impressive new 
facility they are building. This is a new $26 million medical facility, 
and I learned during this visit that it was the new markets tax credit 
that was key to making this project possible. New markets is a tax 
incentive to spur economic growth and community redevelopment projects, 
and it helps to spur private investment, as it did in this case. In 
this Cleveland case, it spawned significant private investment from 
foundations and from individuals. This is something that has worked in 
the cities I represent in Ohio. We fought to preserve the new markets 
tax credit in the Senate version of the tax legislation, and the final 
agreement that became law has the new markets tax credit made 
permanent. That is critical for economic development opportunities like 
this new university hospital medical center I talked about.
  So these benefits from tax reform are not abstract. They are very 
real. They are extra money in your paycheck, they are more affordable 
healthcare coverage, they are increased investments in emerging 
communities, and much more.
  As the good news continues to roll in from tax reform, I will keep 
traveling Ohio, meeting with businesses, families, and workers to 
discuss ways tax reform can help them achieve a better economic future. 
A brighter future is really what our tax reform and tax cut legislation 
was all about.

                          ____________________